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Plasmonic Trapping and Release of Nanoparticles in a Monitoring Environment
Published on: April 4, 2017
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Scalable trapping of single nanosized extracellular vesicles using plasmonics
Chuchuan Hong1,2, Justus C Ndukaife3,4,5
1Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA.
Nature Communications
|August 9, 2023
Summary
Geometry-induced electrohydrodynamic tweezers (GET) enable rapid, parallel trapping of nanoscale extracellular vesicles (EVs). This breakthrough allows for quick, non-invasive, and high-throughput plasmon-enhanced single EV analysis.
Area of Science:
- Biotechnology
- Nanotechnology
- Optical Physics
Background:
- Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are crucial for disease detection and therapeutics.
- Traditional optical tweezers struggle with trapping small EVs, limiting throughput.
- Existing plasmonic tweezers face limitations in speed and particle concentration handling.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a novel method for high-throughput, tether-free single EV trapping.
- To overcome the limitations of existing optical and plasmonic trapping techniques for EVs.
- To enable rapid, non-invasive plasmon-enhanced optical trapping and spectroscopy of single EVs.
Main Methods:
- Introduction of geometry-induced electrohydrodynamic tweezers (GET) for parallel EV transport.
- Integration of nanoscale plasmonic cavities within GET traps.
- Utilizing electrohydrodynamic potentials for rapid single EV manipulation and positioning.
- Combining GET with plasmonic cavities for instant plasmon-enhanced optical trapping.
Main Results:
- GET enables parallel transport and trapping of single EVs within seconds.
- Single EVs are precisely positioned near plasmonic cavities for enhanced trapping.
- The hybrid nanotweezers achieve non-invasive, high-throughput plasmon-enhanced single EV trapping.
- Elimination of detrimental heating effects during plasmon-enhanced trapping.
Conclusions:
- GET offers a scalable solution for high-throughput, tether-free plasmon-enhanced single EV trapping and spectroscopy.
- This technology advances EV analysis for disease detection and therapeutic applications.
- Potential applications extend to nanoplastics characterization and quantum photonics integration.
